A fantastic post on SamizData.net: a pictorial collection of London Evening Standard news headline billboards from 2009. But, says the post’s author Brian Micklethwait, the Standard’s decision to go free in October has now changed billboard culture:

At first the guys giving it away carried on with the billboards, but I knew that this practice would soon fade away. If no money is being made in the street from these newspapers, why go to all the bother of advertising them in the street. So it is that if you click on the last picture of all, you see that where there used to be informatively alarming stories about doom and disaster, now there are only forlorn signs saying that the ES now costs nothing.

All 600,000 copies copies of the Standard – which became a free newspaper in October 2009 – will be printed later in the day ( the West End Final edition) from January.

“Printing will begin in the afternoon, with the latest developing stories being updated on the presses as they run until early evening,” a release said.

“The response to our recent decision to make the Evening Standard a free quality newspaper has been overwhelming,” said editor Geordie Greig. “This decision will mean our news is even more up to date, and more copies will be available for home-going commuters.”

“The London Evening Standard’s second day as a free newspaper did not go as smoothly as the first, after its distributors were forced off the streets of Kensington and Chelsea because they did not have correct permits,” reports the Independent. The situation has now been resolved, a spokesperson from the Standard said.

“Is anybody out there listening properly? Do enough people care? Are journalists themselves sticking their heads in the sand?

“We are not facing a momentous crisis in journalism. We are already in a crisis that is putting the central public service aspect of our role in jeopardy.”

In a follow-on from his column in the London Evening Standard in which he claimed there was possibility of charity funding to back public service reporting by the Press Association, he emphasises the need for speedy rescue measures.

And he’s enthusiastic about non-commercial models:

“The reason I’m in favour of not-for-profit journalism, whether funded by charity or, at arm’s length, by state bodies, is that it breaks the link with commercialism.

“That’s a vital first step in the reinvention of journalism. What we need is a preservation of the old until the new emerges. We cannot afford to let the old die before the new is in place.”

Your Croydon, Croydon Council’s free community paper, doesn’t much rate a journalist from another London publication, the Evening Standard, judging by a tweet send out yesterday. ‘ER’ refers to Esther Rantzen; Your Croydon appears to be referring to a recent media appearance by the aspiring MP. There’s unlikely to be much love lost next time the ‘young lady’ in question gives the council a call for help with her next press inquiry. Update: it appears said Tweet has now been deleted, but it’s captured via TweetPaste below.

In an exclusive report the Guardian reveals that the oligarch Alexander Lebedev will buy the Evening Standard newspaper – ‘in a dramatic move that would see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper,’ the Guardian says. … Full story…

Can we get an online version? Can we heck! After time wasted going round the editorial houses through the Evening Standard switchboard, Brighton-based Journalism.co.uk is getting sent a print version.

So in the meantime (till the print copy arrives) here’s the online media and general media types we’ve spotted on the list of 50 that are featured on the website. And it looks like new media gets a fairly good representation.

The little ‘see new media’ under the names almost had us thinking we could click on links… no chance. Well, we’re not in London; we don’t really exist, clearly.

Shiny Media’s three founders are included – and quoted as being “highly influential in the UK online world”. They aren’t among the very top 50, but you can see a scanned in bit of the list on the Shiny blog.

Media/Online types from the top 50:

Nikesh Arora, GOOGLE, EUROPEAN VP: Boss of the internet giant’s most important base outside California, bringing in close to a billion pounds a year in advertising revenue in the UK. Landed Google job after 17 interviews. (New Media, TV & Radio)

Jonathan Ive, 41, APPLE, DESIGN GURU: The world’s most influential product designer, involved in the iPhone and iPod. He is returning to British roots, buying a £2.5 million retreat here. (New Media)

Mark Thompson, 51, BBC, DIRECTOR-GENERAL: From deception scandals to swingeing job cuts, Thompson has had to weather many storms while rival broadcasters pitch for a slice of the corporation’s income from the licence fee (Television & Radio)